Keeping in touch with learning: the use of an interactive whiteboard in the junior school

Abstract

Recent literature on the role of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) has indicated numerous ways in which teachers make use of the IWB to support children’s learning. In these studies there is a growing awareness of changing roles in the classroom as teachers gain confidence in the use of new technologies. This study describes how a researcher worked with a teacher in a small rural school in New Zealand to document and understand the use of an IWB to enhance the learning of young children ages five to six years. The focus of the research was on how the features of the IWB supported teaching actions and provided potential and structure for the children to develop their ‘key competencies’, broadly conceptualised as the development of knowledge, skills and aptitudes for learning. Here the authors demonstrate that it was the teacher’s orchestration of the classroom environment, incorporating the use of the IWB, that was the key to the development of pupil autonomy as they learnt to take risks and to be creative in their learning with the interactive whiteboard.

Keywords:

• interactive whiteboard
• junior school
• key competencies
• New Zealand

Acknowledgements

The Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research at the University of Waikato, in New Zealand, supported this work. The researcher is especially grateful for the welcome given by the teachers and the principal at Toko Primary School on the Forgotten World Highway in the Taranaki region of New Zealand.

Notes

1. Please note reference to these key competencies throughout the text in italics.

2. The New Zealand Curriculum is divided into eight core learning areas including science. Each learning area is specified at levels 1–8 encompassing primary and secondary learning from Year 1 to Year 13 of formal schooling.